40 hours is full-time

The Affordable Care Act needs a check-up, the National Restaurant Association and American Hotel & Lodging Association said in a joint op-ed today.

One top concern: The health care law defines full-time as 30 hours a week.

"The ACA changed the definition of a full-time employee from someone who works the traditional 40-hour workweek to anyone who works 30 hours a week," NRA President & CEO Dawn Sweeney and AH&LA President & CEO Katherine Lugar write in The Hill. "Instead of benefiting workers, this provision is actually harming them ... Businesses of all sizes are having to reduce the hours of workers who had been working 40 hours a week."

The ACA's full-time definition affects which businesses are considered large employers, and which employees must be offered health coverage. The law exposes large employers to possible fines if they don't offer health plans to full-time employees and their dependents.

The ACA's so-called "employer mandate" covers businesses with the equivalent of 100 full-time employees this year, and employers with 50 to 99 full-time-equivalent employees starting in 2016.

The NRA supports bringing the ACA's definition of full-time employment more in line with traditional workplace standards. The House passed a bill in January to make the change, and more than 30 senators are now sponsoring the bipartisan "Forty Hours is Full Time Act" in the Senate. The NRA is a lead member of the "More Time for Full Time" initiative.

Read more about the impact of the ACA's 30-hour definition on restaurant and hotel employers.

National Restaurant Assoc urges Senate to pass tax extenders bill

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) today urged the Senate to move forward on tax extender legislation and reiterated support for an amendment filed by Senator Collins (R-ME) which would temporarily restore the definition of full-time under the current health care law from 30 to 40 hours per week.

“It is critical that the Senate move forward on tax extender legislation to provide certainty for main street business and allow restaurants to continue to create jobs and promote economic growth,” said Scott DeFife, Executive Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs for the National Restaurant Association. “We are pleased that the Senate is working across the aisle on this issue, and urge Senators to continue their efforts on finding a path forward.”

The NRA also issued support for SA 3196, an amendment filed by Senator Collins that would temporarily raise the definition of full-time under ACA through 2016.

“We appreciate Senator Collins and Senators Donnelly, Scott, Isakson, Murkowski, Ayotte, Graham, Blunt, Crapo and Boozman for recognizing that the current definition of full-time under ACA places undue burden on businesses across the country,” said DeFife. “Aligning the law’s definition of full-time employee status with more traditional levels used by restaurant and foodservice operators would provide significant relief to employers.”

The ACA’s full-time employee definition has been a critical issue for the restaurant industry. The Association is continuing to work with members of both chambers to address this challenging part of the law for restaurant operators’ compliance.  

Senator: Key health care change is win-win

U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) told an audience of National Restaurant Association members that changing the Affordable Care Act’s definition of “full time” from 30 to 40 hours would benefit both restaurants and their employees.

Donnelly, lead co-sponsor of the “Forty Hours is Full Time Act,” with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), made the comments in a speech Wednesday during the NRA’s 2014 Public Affairs Conference. The legislation aims to bring the health care law more in line with workplace realities, he said. The 30-hour definition could limit opportunities and flexibility for employees and make running a business “endlessly more complicated” for employers accustomed to a 40-hour workweek, he said. Employees, Donnelly said, will benefit from a 40-hour work week through the opportunity to work more hours, earn more money and gain more experience.

“We have an opportunity to step up and make things more simple, in a bipartisan way,” Donnelly said. “It’s our job to provide certainty. If it’s going well for [businesses], it’s going well for the country.”

Donnelly’s speech helped kick off a day in which nearly 700 restaurant professionals made visits to their members of Congress to discuss health care, immigration reform, taxes and other legislative issues that affect restaurants. He encouraged restaurant operators to address the health care law’s full-time definition during their visits.

“Tell [members of Congress] that 40 hours is full-time,” Donnelly said. “Ask them what a full-time workweek was when they worked in the private sector. If they say 30 hours, it wasn’t really a full-time job in the private sector.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) also spoke to conference attendees on Wednesday and thanked restaurant operators for helping to bring problems with the 30-hour full-time definition to the attention of Congress.

“We heard from everyone in your industry on how [the 30-hour full-time definition] was hurting people,” Cantor said. “I thank you for doing it, because it’s important.” In March, the House of Representatives passed the “Save American Workers Act,” which changes the health care law’s full-time definition to 40 hours.

“We took up that bill in the House and passed it, premised on the notion of an America that works for everybody,” Cantor said. “There are too many people who don’t have a job to go to, or who don’t have the skills to rise in an industry. We want people, such as you, to put capital to work to create these jobs.”